I feel immensely strange writing this book review. South of the Border, West of the Sun is the first of Haruki Murakami's books that I have read. I had high hopes for it but was left bitterly disappointed. In fact, I don't think I've harboured such negative feelings towards a book for a long time. [...]
Category: Fiction
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (Book and Audiobook Review)
The Bell Jar is a relentlessly honest and haunting book written by Sylvia Plath. It tells the story of fictional character Esther Greenwood as she spirals into the depths of depression. The semi-autobiographical nature of the book makes it an even heavier read, given Plath's own depression and ultimate suicide in 1963, just a month [...]
Paradise by Adbulrazak Gurnah (Book Review)
Paradise, published in 1994, was written by Tanzanian author Abdulrazak Gurnah. Set in East Africa in the early 1900s, this wonderfully written tale follows Yusuf, a young boy who is taken from his parents to work for 'Uncle Aziz'. We soon learn that Uncle Aziz is not his uncle at all, but a merchant to [...]
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Book & Audiobook Review)
Arturo recently found an article called The 50 best audiobooks of all time. It's a great list, but the book that caught my attention was F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic The Great Gatsby narrated by Jake Gyllenhaal. Jake Gyllenhaal is an outstandingly talented actor. I had no doubt that he'd make a great Nick Carraway, with his [...]
Wonder by R.J. Palacio (Book Review)
I'll start with this: I think Wonder by R.J. Palacio should be compulsory reading at schools. Perhaps for children around the age of 10, which is the age of the main character, August Pullman. August ("Auggie") was born with severe facial disfigurement. Although his face is the first thing that others see, R.J. Palacio has [...]
Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor (Book Review)
I came across Nnedi Okorafor a few months ago when I was browsing TED Talks. In a talk at the TEDGlobal Conference in August 2017, she discussed Afrofuturism and read out some excerpts from her Binti novella trilogy and from Lagoon. In the talk, she said: "Science fiction is one of the greatest and most [...]
The City of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty (Book Review)
I came across S. A. Chakraborty's book The City of Brass after seeing a couple of reviews on it from other bloggers in the blogosphere. It had been a while since I'd read a fantasy novel, so I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly Chakraborty transported me to the new worlds she'd created. The story begins [...]
Beloved by Toni Morrison (Audiobook & Book Review)
One of Toni Morrison's best known novels, Beloved is an immensely moving account of loss, longing, memory and identity. Set against the backdrop of post-Civil War America, the story centres on Sephe, who has escaped from a life of slavery, and her family. It tells of the legacy of slavery and the physical and psychological [...]
God Help the Child by Toni Morrison (Book Review)
TW: child abuse I finished Toni Morrison's latest book God Help the Child two weeks ago, and it's still occupying a prominent place in my mind. Perhaps this book is an odd choice for my first "book review" on this site, as I still don't know exactly how I feel about it. I've only just discovered Toni [...]
Write Kind Travels 